French kiss from CinéFranco

Some Kind of Blue as part of CineFranco: The Celebration of International Franco Rating: NNNN Rating: NNNN

While we’re seeking the next big thing, chasing the new Iranian cinema or the glorious filmmaking renaissance in Korea, French cinema just keeps going.

A broad simplification, to be sure, and one that can be pitched against French cinema, whether you wish to beat it with the club of Third World film or dismiss it as an elitist exercise as compared to the crowd-pleasers out of Hollywood.

Some Kind Of Blue reunites the director with Sylvie Testud, the star of his last film, Fear And Trembling. Testud plays the single mother of a daughter who has chosen not to speak. She enrolls her in a school for the deaf, where the mother develops a relationship with her daughter’s teacher (Sergi López).

Corneau, now in his 60s, has reached a point where he understands how little he needs to do to tell a story, and Some Kind Of Blue is a film with big emotions but an ineffable lightness of touch. (Royal Cinema, March 31-April 9)